Thread control for weft replenishing looms



Nov. 11, 1941. R. G. TURNER THREAD CONTROL FOR WEF'T REPLENISHING LOOMS Original Filed April 8, 1940 n :23 a E 2 m 2 INVENTOR RICHARD G.-TURNER e /h Ma AT T ORNEY Patented Nov. 11, 1941 THREAD CONTROL FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LO OMS Richard G. Turner, Worcester, Mass., assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, -Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application April 8, 1940, Serial No.

328,482. Divided and this application December 5, 1940, Serial No. 368,681

1 Claim.

This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 328,482, filed April 8, 1940.

This invention relates to improvements in weft replenishing looms and it is the general object of the invention to provide an improved thread guide means for the bobbins as they move down the magazine toward trans fer position.

In weft replenishing mechanisms more particularly of the multicolor type the reserve bobbins are stored in vertical stacks and descend by gravity to transfer position one at a time. In order that the shuttle may be threaded automatically on a pick after transfer it is customary to provide a holder for the weft ends which extend from the reserve bobbins in a direction over the eye of the shuttle. As the bobbins await transfer they have a tendency to roll or vibrate in such a direction as to slacken weft. In certain types of weft there is a tendency for the first coils to slip off the yarn mass toward the tip of the bobbin. It is an important object of my present invention to provide guide means which require the weft ends to traverse a path leading from the conical tip part of the weft mass toward the opposite end of the bobbin before being led to the thread holder. In this way the thread is subjected to a tension drawing it away from the bobbin tip with reduced tendency for the first coils to slip.

At the instant of transfer the bobbin is moved down from the magazine into the shuttle with a rapid motion and there is a tendency for the thread to break if it is held too tightly. It is another object of my present invention to provide thread guides so constructed that as the bobbin moves from the magazine into the shuttle the path traversed by the weft ends is shortened, thereby temporarily providing sufficient slack to prevent thread breakage.

In reserve bobbin magazines more particularly of the type set forth hereinafter the lower parts of the bobbin compartments are curved and terminate in a short vertical section below the curved part. This short vertical section will ordinarily hold the reserve bobbin next to be transferred from the associated stack and it is another object of my present invention to provide a friction surface over which the weft ends from the lower bobbins in the stack are led to keep them in proper spaced relation,

It is a further object of my present invention toprovide a mass of yieldable material positioned to engage the conical mass of weft of the bobbin inlowest position to prevent unravelling of the first coils of the bobbin.

The bobbin in transfer position is customarily held by yielding supports which yieldingly hold it under the transferrer arm but move out of the downward path of the bobbin during transfer. In the form of magazine set forth hereinafter the weft threads from one stack or bobbins are led from the bobbin between the guide compartments to the thread holder and must therefore pass downwardly along the yielding support for the bobbin tip at the time of transfer. It is a further object of my present invention to provide an improved formrof bobbin tip support so mounted and constructed as to facilitate passage of the weft end of a bobbin being transferred.

With these andother objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a magazine made according to my present invention,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 22, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 33 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a detail front elevation of the lower end of the rear stack of bobbins looking in the direction of arrow 4, Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a detailed view of the lower part of Fig. 2 with parts removed to show the yieldable bobbin 'tip supports.

My present invention relates more particularly to the type of magazine set forth in Patent No. 2,128,974 to which reference may be had for certain controls for rocking the magazine in time with the shifting of the drop boxes at the end of the loom opposite the magazine not shown herein. The magazine has front and back guide sections I0 and II, respectively, having bobbin tip guideways or compartments l2 and I3, respectively. These sections H1 and II are held by tie rods 14 to an inner frame I5 which is mounted on a pivot I6 as set forth in the aforesaid patent. Extending between the inner plate I5 and the outer guides are two groups of reserve bobbins B and B located, respectively, in the front and rear guides.

The bobbins B and B' have weft ends W and W, respectively, extending from them and they are drawn into a pneumatic thread holder designated generally at P in Fig. 1. The particular type of thread holder forms no part of my present invention and may be as set forth in my copending application Serial No. 166,571. It is thought sufficient for present purposes to state that the action of the thread holder is to hold the weft ends W and W taut during the time their bobbins await transfer in the magazine.

A transferrer arm T may be of the usual form and is normally in raised position but is acted upon by mechanism not set forth herein to descend on replenishing beats of the loom to :move the lowest bobbin in one or the other of the stacks into the shuttle S. The transferrer arm moves in a fixed path and the magazine is rocked so that the lowest bobbin in either the front or the back stack will be under the transferrer arm, depending upon the position of the shifting shuttle boxes not shown at the opposite end of the loom. While one shuttle is shown in Fig. 2 it will be understood that the loom operates with two shuttles which are alternately active and when in transfer position will occupy the position indicated in Fig. 2.

The matter thus far described of itself forms no part of my present invention and may if desired be made as set forth in the aforesaid patent and application.

Considering the guideways in more detail, the front guide l2 has a substantially Vertical elongated section 20 the lower part of which is curved rearwardly as at 2| and then downwardly as at 22, and the front bobbinsfollow the path suggested in Fig. 2 as they move toward transfer position. The rear guide II also has an elongated substantially vertical guide 25 the lower end of which is curved forwardly as at 26 and then terminates in the downwardly directed section 21. The front section I2 is provided with a guide wire 30 the upper end of which is attached to said section as at 3| while the lower part is inclined downwardly and toward the inner plate E of the magazine, see Fig. l. The bottom of this wire 33 is bent horizontally to extend outwardly as at 32 and then upwardly as at 33 to be fastened to the lower part of the guide I2 as at 34. As seen in Fig. 2 this wire lies in front of the section H), the right side of the magazine as shown in Fig. 2 being at the front. The weft ends W leading from the conical parts C of the bobbins B are led to the left as viewed in Fig. 1 around the wire 30 and then toward the right to the thread holder P. It will be seen from Fig. 1 that the wire 36 lies between the ends of the yarn masses of the several bobbins in the front stack and that the weft ends W traverse a path which starts in a direction toward the head end of the bobbins and then is reversed at the wire 38 to be directed toward the thread holder. The bottom horizontal section 32 is above the shuttle S when the latter is in transfer position under the magazine and as the lowest bobbin is inserted into the shuttle its weft end slips under the horizontal section 32 of wire 30. Under these conditions the length of the path for the weft end from the conical end of the the purpose of causing the weft ends W led around it from the conical part of the weft mass to the thread holder to traverse a reversed path.

During descent the bobbins B in the rear stack reach a position where their weft ends will slip off the inclined part of the wire 40 and move under the horizontal section 42 thereof to be held by the vertical part 43. The latter is so positioned that it requires the weft ends of the lower bobbins in the rear stack to traverse an angular path before reaching the thread holder P. As described in connection with the front section, the lowest bobbin B of the rear stack will during its descent at the time of transfer release its thread from the bottom of wire 40 and thereby provide sufiicient slack to prevent thread breakage.

From the matter thus far described it will be understood that the guide wires are so placed as to require the weft ends to traverse angular or reversed paths on their way to the thread holder and also that these paths lead the weft ends from those parts of the conical mass of lesser diameter toward the large end of the weft cones C and C, thereby preventing the thread from slipping endwise toward the tip of the bobbin. This control of the thread makes it possible to provide slack at the time of transfer to prevent thread breakage.

In order that the weft ends W may move downwardly between sections Ill and H, the latter are spaced to define a thread passage shown in Fig. 5. The weft ends of the lower bobbins in the rear stack should be held in vertically spaced relation, and to accomplish this result I secure a strip of friction material 5! to the rear section II and extend it forwardly across the plane of passage 50 but to one side thereof, see Figs. 3 and 5, so that the lower end thereof will be in front of the adjacent bobbin tips. The weft ends from the bobbins in the rear stack as shown in Fig. 5 lead across this friction material on their way to the thread holder and are thereby held frictionally in vertically spaced relation to prevent entanglement. The bottom 52 of strip 5| terminates above the shuttle S and thus is unable to interfere with the weft end of the lowest bobbin B. r

Another feature of my invention relates to means for engaging the cone C of the lowest bobb1n B with a mass of deformable material to provide additional assurance that the thread of that bobbin will not unwind. In carrying this feature of my invention into effect I provide a leaf spring steel holder which is snapped over two of the tie rods l4 associated with the front section H), as shown in Fig. 2. The lower part of this spring holder 60 extends downwardly and rearwardly as at El and has secured thereto a pad 62 of soft material such as wool so positioned as to engage the conical part of the mass of weft on the lowest bobbin. This relationship is shown more particularly in Figs. 3 and 4 from which figures it will be understood that this mass of material lies under the horizontal section 42 of wire 40 and to the left of the vertical U-shaped section 43. The principal reason for forming the lower end of wire 40, as shown in Fig. 4, is to accommodate the pad 62.

I The head or left ends of the lowest bobbins as shown in Fig. 1 may be held in any approved manner, or as suggested in Patent No. 2,128,974, and such supports are not shown herein. For the tip ends of the bobbins, however. I provide an improved form of tip support set forth more particularly in Figs. 2, 3 and 5. This tip support mechanism comprises a stud secured to the bottom of the section I0 in front of thread passage 50 and extending horizontally to afford pivotal support for front and back arms H and 12, respectively, positioned for engagement with the tips of the lowest bobbins B and B, respectively. The arm 12 has a finger I3 carrying an adjusting screw 14 for engagement with a lug 15 on section II). A small compression spring 16 is located between the arms H and 12 tending normally to spread them apart. The front arm H may engage the tip of its bobbin directly, but I prefer to mount the rear arm 12 so that it engages the "previously described friction material 5!. Arm 12 under these conditions does not directly engage its bobbin tip, but serves nevertheless to hold the associated bobbin yield-,- ingly in transfer position by forces transmitted through the friction material 5|.

In operation, the transferrer arm T effects periodic transfers of the low bobbins into the depleted shuttle under the magazine. With each transfer the bobbins of the corresponding stack descend, thereby causing slackness in the associated weft ends W and W. The pneumatic thread holder promptly absorbs the excess length of weft ends and quickly reestablishes the original tension. As the bobbins move out of the magazine the weft ends move to positions below the corresponding guide wires to produce temporary slackness for the reasons already specified.

When a bobbin is transferred from the front stack the arm II is pushed rearwardly against the action of spring 16 and the latter is held at its left end as viewed in Fig. 5 by the arm 12 and the stop screws 14. When transfer occurs from the rear stack the bobbin tip passes down behind the adhesive strip 5| and the arm 12, rocking about the stud 10, moves forwardly against the action of spring 16 to the dotted line position of Fig. 5 as the stop screw 14 moves upwardly away from lug 15. The arm 12 extends downwardly in the same general direction as does the thread passage 50 and therefore offers a minimum of interference and opportunity for entanglement with the weft end of the bobbin being transferred. It is to be understood that the strip 5|, in addition to being adhesive, is also sufficiently flexible to permit unobstructed downward movement of the bobbin tip therebehind and that as the bobbin continues downwardly into the shuttle its weft end will move to a position below the bobbin 52 of the strip 5|.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided guides for the weft ends so placed as to require the threads to traverse a reverse path from the reserve bobbins to the thread holder, thereby tending to draw the weft ends upwardly toward the larger part of the conical ends of the weft masses. It will also be seen that as the lowest bobbin is moved out of the magazine its weft end becomes slack to prevent breakage. Further, the pad of wool or the like, as seen more particularly in Figs. 3 and 4, engages the conical end of the lowest bobbin in the rear stack to prevent unravelling of the wound thread. Also, the adhesive strip 5| serves to hold the weft ends of the two rear bobbins shown at the left of Fig. 5 in properly spaced vertical relationship. The yielding tip support arms H and T2 are controlled by a single spring and arm 12 extends downwardly to permit passage of the weft end between said arm and the forward face of the strip 5| when a replenishing operation of the loom occurs.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

In a weft replenishing loom having a substantially vertical stack of reserve bobbins which feed downwardly by gravity to transfer position one at a time, a guide for the tips of the bobbins, a thread holder, the bobbins having weft ends held taut by the thread holder and extending over and in front of said guide, means in said guide defining a substantially vertical thread slot through which the weft ends extend, a flexible element having an adhesive surface supported by the guide and extending from a point behind the thread slot forwardly in a direction across the path traversed by the weft ends to hold the latter spaced vertically, and a yieldable support for the tip of the lowest bobbin, said support holding the flexible element against the tip of the lowest bobbin, the thread of the bobbin being transferred passing down between said flexible element and the yieldable support.

RICHARD G. TURNER. 

